A State Of Animation At Kutztown U. Touring Showcase Of World's Best Opens This Week

March 13, 1988|by PAUL WILLISTEIN, The Morning Call

A look at the state of motion picture animation will be presented this week at Kutztown University when the "20th International Tournee of Animation" is screened Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights.

The annual touring showcase of award-winning animated films, including all three Academy Award nominated films for 1986, is sponsored by KU's Student Activities Committee. The festival demonstrates that animation encompasses a broader spectrum than Saturday morning children's tele

vision fareor the classic artistry of

the Walt Disney Studio.

Now in its 16th year, the festival is again produced by Dr. Thomas Schantz, professor of art education and crafts at KU. The Tournee is distributed by Expanded Entertainment, Los Angeles.

Attendance at the KU-sponsored event has increased in the past few years, with 2,084 attending last year, compared to 1,617 in 1986 and 745 in '85.

The animated shorts reveal a variety of animation techniques, including claymation (where clay characters are moved and filmed frame by frame, as in the California Raisins Board "Heard It Through the Grapevine" TV commercial), pixillation (a succession of still photographs or images), collage, cut-out, paint-on-glass and computer.

The festival brings together examples of the best animation from around the world. The focus of the films is not limited to humor. They include social concerns. There are examples of animation used for commercials and public service announcements. Some of the films have adult themes and language not found in Disney animation, but none of the films would be rated X.

Schantz pointed out that, since cartoons have been dropped from most regular theater bookings and television animation is usually cheaply and, therefore, crudely made, "For many, the festival is not just a display of state-of-the-art animation technology, but a statement of the art.

"The cartoons that most of us know are very limited. They tend to be very non-challenging, mindless," Schantz said. Animation, he feels, is still the best special effect when it comes to movies:

"It is usually the nature of live action to deal with literal things and of animation to deal with the things of the imagination. Animation has totalcontrol of time and place . . . A door,

for example, can appear when it needs to be opened and entered, then disappear when it has no further function to play in the scene. Settings can be just one color, and that color can change to reflect the emotions of the person who inhabits the setting."

The 20th annual Tournee is dedicated to American animator Winsor McCay (1867-1934), considered the greatest and most influential newspaper cartoonist of the early 1900s, first achieving fame as creator of "Little Nemo in Slumberland." In 1911, "Little Nemo" was the first character animated cartoon made in America. McCay's "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914) is considered the film that established the animated cartoon genre.

This year's program includes 18 films from nine countries. All of the films have received at least one major international prize. The winning 1986 Academy Award film as best animated short, "A Greek Tragedy" (Belgium, 6:28 min.), is a humorous look at female statues from the Acropolis and their "life among the ruins."

The other Academy Award nominee is 'The Frog, the Dog and the Devil" (New Zealand, 7:15), a dramatic tale set in western times. The nother nominee, "Luxo Jr." (U.S. 2:07) is a computer animated sensation from Pixar, formerly a division of Lucasfilm.

The newest film from Pixar, "Red's Dream" (U.S., 4:10) is considered the latest in computerized character animation. Computer animation is also featured in "Oilspot and Lipstick" (U.S., 3:20), the first short from Walt Disney's computer animation team, The Late Night Group.

Clay animation is the technique used in "Break" (Soviet Union, 10:21), a battle between two heavyweight boxers, and "Augusta Feeds Her Child" (Hungary, 4:18), which continues the misadventure's of Csaba Varga's lady of clay.

Other American entries include Jane Aaron's "Set in Motion" (3:54) which combines cut-out animation and pixillation; cartoonist Bill Plympton's "Your Face" (3:11), in which a singer's face transforms as he croons a ballad to his love, and "Drawing on My Mind" (4:56), George Carlin's outrageous commentary on trends, eccentrics and sports.

There are also animated films from Italy, Great Britain and "Academy Leader Variations" (5:45), a collaboration by 20 animators from four countries (Poland, Switzerland, China and the U.S.), which won the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize as best animated short.

Wrote The New York Times of the program: "The selection so often resemble paintings come to life that the Tournee may appeal to art lovers as much as animation fans."

"The 20th International Tournee of Animation" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in Schaeffer Auditorium, Kutztown University, Kutztown. Admission is $3, adults; $2, children under 12, and free for KU students.